After a few weeks of
drama, LSU coach Paul Mainieri removed a lot of it Tuesday with his pitching plans
this weekend, at least with how the No. 1-ranked Tigers will begin the weekend
against Oklahoma in the Super Regional Round.

LSU ace Aaron Nola will
get the ball against the 14th-ranked Sooners, who will trot out
junior right-hander Jonathan Gray, regarded as a probably top-five pick in the
Major League Baseball Draft later this week.

"Nola is going to go
Game 1," Mainieri said matter-of-factly. "Jonathan Gray is going to go No. 1 in
the draft, and a lot of people think he's the best pitcher in the country. So
for us to have our best chance to beat him, we've got to with our best. We're
going to line up toe-to-toe and duke it out."

"If Aaron pitches the
way he can pitch, it should be a heck of a game," Mainieri said. "I know this:
Our guy is 11-0."

Gray is no slouch,
either. He's 10-2 this season with a 1.59 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 119
innings.

The potential for the blockbuster
pitching matchup hit a potential roadblock on Monday when an ESPN report
surfaced that Gray has reportedly tested positive for Adderall in a test
administered by Major League Baseball. Because the test was not conducted by
the NCAA or the university, Gray remains eligible to pitch for the Sooners.

OU coach Sunny Golloway
on Tuesday threw his full support behind Gray, who made a statement about the
regional and walked away from the gathered media before fielding any questions
about the ESPN report.

"I
didn't ask Jon for an explanation. As the head coach at the University of
Oklahoma, it's real simple, cut and dry. The NCAA has their drug testing and
has their rules. The university, our institution, has their drug testing, has
its rules in place. And as coaches we have to follow those, and we do, right to
the last letter.

"At
this point in time, Jon Gray is an eligible student-athlete, like all the rest of them. He's held
accountable, like the rest of the team is held accountable, like all the
student-athletes are. That's pretty much end of the story."

When
Mainieri was asked about the report on Gray, he carefully deferred to the OU administration,
in particular Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, a man who pursued Mainieri for
the Sooners' job in 2005.

"I'm sure Oklahoma
follows the rules just like we follow the rules," Mainieri said. "The NCAA, the
way operate, there could be random drug testing here this week just like there
was last weekend.

"Oklahoma knows the
rules just like we do. They've got one of the top ADs in the whole country in Joe
Castiglione, and I'm sure they'll runt their program with the highest level of integrity
and do it the right way. If they say he's eligible to pitch, then we go along
with that and look forward to the competition."

Once Gray and Nola get
finished Friday, though, there will be still be a game or two remaining to
determine who heads to the 2013 College World Series.

"I'm just going to say
TBA and TBA, and I may say that all the way through Friday night," Mainieri
said. "A lot of is going to be (based on) how Cody looks in practice, a lot of
it's going to be how Ryan Eades looks in practice, a lot of it's going to be
how Brent Bonvillain bounces back from the longest outing of his career."

Junior left-hander Dillon
Overton (9-2, 2.91 ERA) will go in Game 2 and senior southpaw Jake Fisher (3-2,
2.53) would likely get the ball in a decisive game.

"Overton has a chance
to be a late first-round or sandwich pick (in the draft)," Mainieri said. "He's
really good as well. They've probably got what most people would consider the
best 1-2 starters in the whole country."

Mainieri compared OU's
pitching staff to SEC West Division rival Arkansas, which finished the season
with a 1.86 team ERA.

But the seventh-year
Tigers' coach also pointed out that his staff has held up well all season
against top-level pitching, both offensively and on the mound. LSU has a 2.47
team ERA, and that number shrunk to 2.33 in three regional games as the Tigers didn't
allow an earned run in the final 19 innings and just one run total in the last
17.